Fade to Blacklight
by Fenerath
Summary: Neglected for his twin sister, Naruto ran away from his family and the village that has only brought him pain. He left the Elemental Nations entirely, finding a new land, and a new home. But when disaster strikes, he will be forced to return to the last place he wanted to see again. How will Naruto handle being a Prototype in a land of ninjas? M for gore and paranoia. Grey Naruto!
1. Chapter 1: One Year Gone

**A/N: Here is my second story that I felt like writing. I'm currently rewriting the chapters of my first story "Soul Shinobi" due to some input I received, and writing multiple stories helps to keep me from getting bored too easily while writing any one of them. I'm not going to say a lot about how this story is going to turn out, so I hope that I can keep everyone reading this entertained enough to decide to stick with the story. This story is slightly inspired by "The Darkest Light" by Halo12094 in that Naruto leaves the Elemental Nations to get his abilities, and one other aspect which I will mention when it occurs.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon/Large Summon Speech"**

**_'Demon/Large Summon Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 1: One Year Gone

A city in ruins. A city abandoned. A city at war. Those were the best ways to describe the view overlooking New York City from the top of the Empire State Building. An eight year old Naruto looked over the city, and thought about everything that brought him to this point. He contemplated wall the pain and heartache, and every brief moment of joy that he went through in his life. He meditated on each and every decision and action that he took, and after all that he came to just one conclusion.

_'Kami hates me.'_

Naruto just couldn't figure it out. All he ever wanted was to be acknowledged, to be seen as more than just a burden, an annoyance, ghost extra. He wanted to not be the one who was always pushed aside or left behind. He just wanted to be heard, not ignored. Seen, not overlooked. Felt, not avoided.

All he wanted was to be seen as a son and brother to his family.

Smoke curled up lazily from some of the infected areas of the city. The groans of those who were unlucky enough to catch the plague were carried on the wind to his sensitive ears, along with the scent of their decay. The "Red Zones" as they were called were filled to the brim with the sick and dying, not to mention things that seem to have come straight out of one of those horror movies that he remembered. Monstrosities that were once men.

The blonde's thoughts turned back to his so-called family. He remembered how his parents would always favor his sister. Whenever there was a difference of opinion between them, his parents would always take her side. If he wanted ramen, and she wanted dango, then dango was what they were going to have. She was the only one they ever paid attention to, and also the only one they would train.

Ever since he was four, they started training his twin sister in the ninja arts. However, they would only train her, and whenever he asked to train with them as well they brushed him aside. They would always reply that they needed to focus on his sister, and that they would train him after he entered the academy. Whenever he asked why they had to focus on her, they would always respond the same way, saying that because she had the Kyuubi's chakra, they had to train her to make sure that she could control it.

A scream of pain and horror pierced the air, interrupting his thoughts. Another idiot had wandered into a Red Zone and paid the price for it. He was still surprised by how stupid some people could be. While the city was quarantined so that no one could get in or out without authorization, most people would still try to get as far away from the Red Zones as possible. Yet sometimes people would head towards them instead, and not even the suicidal ones at that! Normal people, who for some reason or other decided to take a risk, would then pay for that risk and wonder what they did to deserve this.

Naruto started meditating again on the past. Although his parents would say that his sister was the one who needed the training, he felt that out of the two of them that he was the one who needed it more. After all, it wasn't his sister who was hunted and beaten by the villagers on a weekly basis. She was seen as a hero for containing the chakra of the demon that nearly destroyed Konoha. He, on the other hand, was seen as the demon itself for containing it's body and soul. She was cheered and loved, while he was hated and abused.

The worst part of it was that his parents were clueless about the whole thing. After every incident, a healer among the crowd would heal him enough to hide any traces of the attack, and then he would be sent on his way. He had tried to tell his parents about what was happening, but since everyone else would deny any wrongdoing, he would simply be sent to his room for lying. After another few years of this, he decided that he had enough, and that he was going to leave before the villagers decided to end it once and for all.

However, he did decide to give his parents one more chance. While he made plans and prepared to leave, he decided to wait until after he entered the Academy to see if the two of them would at least keep their promise.

He should have known better.

A week after he entered the Academy, he asked his parents once again for training. Once again they denied him, saying that they were at a crucial phase in their training of his sister, and had to focus completely on her. But the final straw occurred a month before his seventh birthday. The scene was etched into his memories, never to fade.

* * *

_-Flashback-_

Naruto started awake, fear from the nightmare he had causing his heart to beat a mile per minute. He drew his arms and legs in, hugging himself, and shivered. His nightmare was the memory of a particularly vicious attack. This one had some shinobi who were skilled with lightning and fire techniques. They tortured him for hours before they let him go.

After a while, he calmed down enough that he could bring himself to relax his muscles a bit and stop shivering. He decided to heat up a cup of milk in an attempt to go back to sleep, hopefully without any nightmares this time. He left his room, and walked down the hall on his way to the kitchen. As he passed by the family library, he heard some voices and stopped. He sneaked over to the door and began to listen in on the conversation.

"Minato-kun, don't you think that we're pushing Natsumi a little hard? She still has six years before she becomes a ninja, shouldn't we tone down her training a bit?" asked Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. She was a beautiful woman, with fiery red hair and violet eyes. She was known across the Elemental Nations as the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, and was an S class ninja of Konoha.

"I don't think so Kushi-chan. Yes, we're pushing her harder than normal, but it's for the best. After she becomes a kunoichi, she'll take missions away from the village. What if she encounters enemy ninja? I'd rather work her hard now than risk her death later." replied her husband, Minato Namikaze. He was a tall man, with bright yellow hair and deep blue eyes. As the Hokage, he was known as the strongest shinobi of the leaf.

When Naruto heard his father's response, his hands clenched into fists. The man just said that he's training Natsumi to make sure that she stays safe after she becomes a ninja, so what about Naruto? Every time he asked for training they denied him. Minato basically just said that he doesn't care if Naruto lives or dies.

"I guess you're right." Kushina replied. "Now that we've started her on basic Fuinjutsu and nature manipulation, I might as well start training her on my kenjutsu style."

"I was also thinking about starting to train her with the Rasengan." said Minato. "I also wanted to talk with you about something."

"What is it dear?"

"I was thinking," said Minato, "I wanted to acknowledge Natsumi as the heir to the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan next month at her birthday party."

At this, Kushina was shocked. "But Minato-kun, what about Naruto? He's the eldest and being the heir is his birthright!"

Minato just waved his hands. "I know that but think about it. She's much stronger than he is, and with the political training she's had she will also make a better clan head than Naruto. It'll be OK, after we make the announcement, we'll sit down with him and explain everything. I'm sure he'll understand. And then, as long as we keep loving him as we have all along, I'm sure he'll get over it."

Kushina just sighed, and said "Alright, if you're sure about this then I guess it's fine."

Behind the door Naruto's little body shook with rage and frustration. Tears of shame and fury filled his eyes. Unwilling to listen to more, he went back to his room. All thoughts of sleep blasted from his mind, he curled up in a corner of his room and wept. Everything he had was now taken from him. What the hell do they mean by "keep loving him as they have all along"? Since when have they loved him? They didn't even care if he lived or died!

Honestly, he wasn't that surprised. He figured that this would happen sooner or later. After all, they gave her everything else, why wouldn't they give their precious Natsumi his inheritance as well? Still, it hurt, and the reasons they gave for their betrayal still stung. Of course she would be stronger, how did they expect him to be stronger than her if they never trained him? If they never taught him politics, how can they expect him to be able to have any understanding of it? And then to use his weakness, the weakness that THEY caused, as an excuse to take everything from him? How could they?

Naruto just curled his small body up tighter and continued weeping. He stayed that way until morning.

_-End Flashback-_

* * *

That day cemented his decision to leave the village. There was absolutely nothing there for him. No friends for him to miss, everyone stayed away from him. The only people who were kind to him were the pair at the Ichiraku Ramen stand, but he never got to know them that well. All the kids stayed away from him due to their parents, the only ones who approached him just used him to get to know his sister. As soon as they were introduced he was back to being ignored.

So he had continued his plans to leave the village. He had spent most of the previous year making copies of everything in the clan library, including the scrolls detailing the Rasengan and Hiraishin. He kept everything in a seal he learned to create that he had placed on his left shoulder. During the next month before his birthday, he finished making copies of everything that he had missed, and made plans to travel. Luckily, he had heard that there was a ship that was planning to try to leave the Elemental Nations to see what was beyond the Veil of Mists. It seems that every few years, there are some people who are either dumb enough or adventurous enough to try to do what no one has ever managed before.

For his purposes however, it was perfect. He knew that eventually, even his parents would have noticed that he was missing. And if they did then they would have sent Jiraiya to find him. With his connections and spy network, there was no place where a seven year old kid like him could have hidden for long. The only way for him to not end up being captured and taken back to Konoha would have been to leave the Elemental Nations entirely. Even if he had ended up dead, he still saw that as preferable to being taken back to that hell hole.

Suddenly Naruto heard gun fire. He looked to his left, and saw in the distance that a group of soldiers were attempting to clear out a portion of a Red Zone and setup another checkpoint to make sure it stayed clear. Slowly but surely, the army was taking back the city. Already, they had managed to shrink the size of the Red Zones to only encompass 25% of the city, instead of the 50% they had covered before. In another few months, the city would be infection free. Another few months after that, the all clear would be given for people to be able to move back in, if there were anyone who still wanted to.

Naruto didn't bother to try to help the soldiers. If he went, then all that would happen would be that he would be fired upon. He would only be seen as another infected, or maybe even as the cause of the infection itself. He was tired of having nobody see him as he was. Was it too much to ask to have someone see him as a person? To not have people hate him for something that he can't control?

Sighing, Naruto stood up and jumped from his position on the top of the Empire State Building. With a crash, he landed on the street below and then stood unhurt. He had to admit, if anything his new condition came with some perks. It was utterly cool to be able to survive a fall like that without any injuries, and also to be able to glide whenever he wanted to. Not to mention his other abilities.

He started walking to another section of the city. If he could see the soldiers, then that meant that they could see him. He didn't want to risk a fight so he moved further away. As he walked, he continued his musings of the past.

A month after he overheard his parent's conversation, it the day of the twin's birthday. Large preparations had been made for the party, with everyone planning to finish the day at the Hokage's tower to view the fireworks display at night. He had finished his own preparations as well. That was his last day in the village. He had left his room that morning to go out and begin his daily training routine. As he passed the party preparations, he had noticed the large banner that hung across the room.

"Happy Birthday Natsumi!" it said. Naruto had felt a small pang in his heart, but he had quickly ignored it. He was used to such things after all. After he had trained for the day, he went back to the clan compound to clean up and then he got ready for his plan. He had gone down and went to the party to make sure that he was seen in case they remembered him. A few hours after the party had started; it was time for the presents to be opened. He simply watched, since as usual there were no presents for him, not even from his parents. And as usual, no one noticed.

He had felt another small pang as he saw that both Jiraiya and Tsunade presented Natsumi with their respective summon scrolls, neither one of them bothering to offer him the same thing, although they were both HIS godparents as well. Everyone was ecstatic for Natsumi, and as usual no one seemed to remember that it was his birthday as well. Finally, his parents made the announcement that he knew was coming. Everyone started to cheer for Natsumi, with no one even questioning about why he wasn't the heir anymore. After all, shouldn't the village hero inherit the leadership of one of the most powerful clans as well?

Still, this was just the excuse he was waiting for. He then headed inside and went to his room. If anyone had noticed him leaving, they would have assumed that he was just sad due to losing out his inheritance. Fortunately for him, no one had paid any attention to him.

Once he was in his room, he had then finished packing his things and had sealed everything away. Then he had just waited for everyone to leave to watch the fireworks. Once everyone had gone, Naruto had left the compound and made his way to the village gate, making sure to keep to the shadows and stay hidden. He had learned his lesson on his fifth birthday to stay indoors unless he wanted to start a "fox hunt".

Once he had reached the gate, he hid nearby and waited. After a while the gate guards had gotten so drunk that they passed out. It didn't hurt either that he had made sure earlier to spike all of their drinks with a small sedative. After waiting some more, just to be sure that they were truly and fully passed out, he then went through the gates, and left the village.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts as he came up to another sky scraper. This one was even taller than the Empire State, and it was also in the middle of the Red Zone he was in so it was completely abandoned. He quickly ran up the side of the building and perched on a ledge once he reached the top. He looked over the city again. Even though the view was of a war zone, and a testament to man's depravity and to death and destruction, it somehow still calmed him. He didn't like all of the deaths that occurred over the past few months, and he wasn't happy with all of the destruction and with how the city's people had their lives shaken by these past events. Still, for some reason, he somehow felt at peace when he looked over everything.

Hopefully it was just because he liked high places.

Naruto thought about his journey out of the Elemental Nations. It had taken him a month to reach Port City in the Land of Tea. During that time, he had seen neither hide nor hair of a single leaf ninja. When he had reached the port, he Henged himself into an older man he had picked at random, and then searched for the ship that was leaving the Nations. He had found it and then he had quickly signed himself aboard. He thought that the captain had seemed a bit suspicious about his reasons for leaving, but the captain had needed all the hands he could get, so he was willing to hire a fugitive if he had to.

A week later the ship had left the city, and was sailing on its voyage away from everything familiar. Although Naruto wasn't too familiar with ships at the time, he was a fast learner and he had quickly picked up on everything that he needed to know. It was a few days out however that disaster had struck. A fog had quickly rolled in, and made it impossible to see anything further than a few feet in front of the ship. Then, within an hour of the fog, a whistling could be heard. Suddenly blades of wind then smashed into the ship, tearing it to pieces. It was diced into chunks, and the majority of the crew was lost. There were a few who used to be ninjas who then used water walking to land on the ocean's surface, but the winds kept coming and they were quickly killed.

Naruto himself had only survived because he had managed to grab on to a floating piece of the ship and kept himself low. Even so, the wind had pass by right over his head, nearly killing him. If he had been a few inches higher, he would have been cut in half. As he held onto the wreckage of the ship, the current had grabbed hold of him and taken him out to see. He had passed by a rock, and saw seals imprinted on the stone.

Thinking back on it, Naruto realized that it was due to the seals that no one had ever made it out of the Elemental Nations. They were the reason that no one could get in or out of that area. Now, he knows that the area he was in is known as the "Devil's Sea", or the "Dragon's Triangle", and was the Asian counterpart to the Bermuda Triangle, just not as famous. To this day, he still wasn't sure just how he survived the month he was stuck at sea, being carried by the current. Sure, he had food and water stored in his seal on his arm, but with the storms he experienced at sea and the freezing waters, he should have been dead.

Still, he had survived, and then found himself washed up on a beach in California. After he had recovered from his ordeal, he had sneaked along and Henged himself into a random person wearing what seemed to be cloths that were common among the people of the land he was in. He had noticed that everyone seemed to speak a different language than he did, and that the technology was much higher than back in the Elemental Nations. He had eventually found out that his native tongue was almost identical to another language called Japanese, and then he had set out to find a book or something to teach him the common language of the country he was in, which he had since learned was The United States of America.

After learning enough English to get by, he had then set out across the country, learning more about the world he was in. Everything he had learned was astounding. Apparently, the rest of the world did not know about chakra, instead focusing on technology to wage war and for public use. Some of the things that they could do were amazing, and even put Kage level ninjas to shame. The scary thing about it was that most of it required little to no actual training. With just a little knowledge, technically anyone could do these things, although most did not have access to the materials or resources to do so.

He had also started training with the scrolls he had copied from the clan's library. He had quickly learned to Tree Walk, managing the exercise within days, and then he had learned to Water Walk within hours. Besides the Henge that he learned in the Academy, he also learned the Kawarimi during this time but could not for the life of him manage the Bushin. He had figured out that it was because he was overpowering the jutsu, but even now when using as little chakra as he could manage, the fewest amounts of Bushins he could create at once without overpowering them was thirty.

After nine months of traveling by foot, he had then finally reached New York City. The sizes of the buildings were breathtaking. Nowhere in the Elemental Nations could he find anything like this. He had figured that in a city of this size, even someone like him with no past could make a life for himself here.

_'As I thought, Kami hates me.'_

Within days of arriving, his latest problem occurred. He was at Penn Station, on his way out, when a man ran right into him. He only had the time to process one thought, which was that the man had great choice in clothing, when the man suddenly thrust some sort of vial in his hands and then ran off. The reason the man had run was suddenly apparent when the man's pursuers appeared.

One of them, having seen the vial in Naruto's hands, decided that Naruto was an accomplice and suddenly shot him. This in hindsight was an extremely stupid thing to do when the one you're shooting at is holding a vial containing an extremely deadly virus. The bullets had shattered the vial before hitting him, and then slamming him into the ground.

As Naruto was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, he had thought that it was his end. He was mentally screaming at the unfairness of it all. He has a shitty childhood, and just when he finally had a chance to find happiness, he gets killed? As he had lay there dying, he felt something odd happening with his body. Before he could have wondered what else Kami had decided to screw him with, he had suddenly felt a huge amount of information cramming itself painfully into his head and promptly passed out.

Suddenly, Naruto heard a helicopter in the distance heading in his direction, snapping him out of his thoughts. He ducked under a ledge near the top of the sky scraper he was on, and kept alert. A helicopter flew by, none the wiser for his presence. He stayed hidden for a few minutes longer to make sure that everything was all clear before resuming his position. For now, Naruto just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. He was tired of everything that had happened to him, and just wanted to be left alone, at least for a while. With that, his thoughts turned back to his previous musings.

A little while after passing out, Naruto had suddenly woken up to find himself on some sort of metal table. He had then looked up and found two men standing over him holding scalpels while looking like they were about to dissect him. In a sudden panic, thinking that they had somehow found out about his status as a jinchuriki, he had then reached up and grabbed one of them by the throat. What he had not realized at the time however, was that he was now _much_ stronger than he was before, so while he had planned to grab the man and throw him away, he instead snapped the man's neck.

He was in such shock over killing the man that he barely noticed the other researcher running away in terror. He was then suddenly shocked _again_, when out of his body burst red and black tendrils that surrounded the body, and broke it down into pieces before absorbing it. His head then began pounding with pain, as suddenly a lifetime's worth of memories began pouring itself into his head. All of the memories of the man he had just killed, all of his skills and knowledge, had filled his head and integrated themselves into him. They were still separate from himself so that he didn't suddenly start thinking that he was the man in question, but everything he knew and everything he could do was suddenly at Naruto's fingertips and within his capabilities.

Now knowing that the man's superiors had thought that Naruto was dead and had sent him to be dissected since he had been infected with some sort of virus called Blacklight, Naruto had then ran out of the building. Using his training, he had then made his way out mostly undetected, only stopping to kill and consume one soldier whom he had overlooked and was about to radio for help.

His life after that was frantic, trying to find out what was happening to him, learning more about his powers and abilities, and trying to ignore a very specific set of memories that were disturbing in their implications. He had found himself forced to fight against the company that made the virus, Gentek, as well as a secret branch of the government called Blackwatch. Then he had found himself up against the person whose blood the virus was synthesized after, Elizabeth Greene. While he had sympathized with her, and could even understand her pain and her desire for revenge, she was not only targeting those who were responsible for what had happened to her, but also innocent people who had nothing to do with her.

After killing her, he then faced off against the strongest infected yet, called the Supreme Hunter, and killed it, before flying off with a helicopter that had a nuke that was set to destroy the city. He had managed to take the helicopter out of range of the city, but was himself caught in the blast when the nuke exploded. He had only survived by what was left of him managing to consume a crow to start restoring himself before he had fully perished. He then spent the rest of his time until now in hiding.

Now, here he was, a year after having left Konoha, and yet he seemed to be right back where he started. He had people hating him and trying to kill him for something that he had no control over. Was he dangerous, yes he was. He considered himself to be probably the most deadly thing alive on the planet, excluding the biju (as long as he ignored that nagging memory that sat in his head). However dangerous he might be however, that didn't change the fact that while he could potentially kill everyone in the city without breaking a sweat, he wouldn't due to his own personal set of morals. He knew what it was like to live in pain, and didn't want others to feel the same way.

Well, except for the bastards who caused the pain in the first place.

The only thing that had seemed to change was his wardrobe. When he was much younger, he had worn a bright orange jumpsuit in an attempt to get his parents to notice him, even if it's just to verify what that orange monstrosity they saw in the corner of their eyes was. When that didn't work however, he quickly changed to some darker clothes. While neon orange didn't seem to catch the eyes of his parents, it did catch the eyes of his pursuers.

Now however, he wore different clothing than before. He had on black cargo pants and black, steel-toed boots. He had on a red shirt, with a black hooded sweater and a black leather jacket over that. On the back of the jacket was a blood red biohazard symbol that occasionally seemed to glow. His clothing was now a produce of his new condition, and as such they would repair themselves as fast as he did.

He realized however that it was time to stop musing on his life, and time to start deciding on what to do with it. He knew that whatever else happened, he had to leave the city. Too many people and organizations knew that he was here. While they may or may not have been fooled into thinking that he was killed by the blast, as long as he was here it was an unnecessary risk for being discovered. Where then was he to go?

After thinking about it for a while, Naruto decided to head north, into a heavily forested area. He decided that it was time to start focusing again on his shinobi training. He especially wanted to focus on his stealth and infiltration techniques, since they would be useful in staying out of sight while hiding form the military. He had no doubts that should they discover that he was still alive, that they would do all that they could to capture him, to either make him a weapon or to dissect him to figure out how to make more of him. Plus, he needed a mountainous region to be able to start practicing his more destructive techniques without disturbing others. With that in mind, he decided to go to Maine, since there he figured it would be easier to hide while he trains.

Naruto stood up, and took one last look at the city, burning the view into his memories. While he had only spent a short amount of time here, the city definitely had made an impression in his mind. Admittedly, it wasn't a very good impression, but it still left one nonetheless. With that in mind, he jumped from the top of the building, and started into the next phase of his life.

* * *

**A/N: Here is the first chapter of my new story. For those who were paying attention, I dropped some pretty big hints as to what the second aspect in my story that was inspired by ****"The Darkest Light" by Halo12094 was. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2: That Which is Precious

**A/N: Here's the second chapter. I've had a lot of positive reviews for the first chapter; so far everyone seems to like it. I've had a few questions about Naruto's future love life. About that I'm just going to say… not telling. You'll just have to wait and see, although I will agree with windfox90 that if I pair Naruto with someone, it won't be a quick love-at-first-sight deal. He has emotional baggage and will have a hard time dealing with positive feelings.**

**I'm also not giving away how he'll deal with his family and Konoha. Like I said in the first chapter, I'm not going to give away anything about where this story is going beforehand. I will say that the second aspect of my story that was by "The Darkest Light" by Halo12094 will be revealed in this chapter. **

**Also, to address a concern a reviewer brought up, when I said that writing multiple stories keeps me from getting bored too easily I meant that it keeps writing any one of my stories from becoming tedious. If I just write one story at a time, it would start to feel like work, which removes my desire to write. Not only that, but there are times when I will get writer's block for a story, and having another story allows me to continue writing until I get a fresh idea. I have no plans on abandoning any story that I write, although I may take small beaks.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon/Large Summon Speech"**

**_'Demon/Large Summon Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 2: That Which is Precious

One month after leaving the city, Naruto found himself in the mountains of Maine. He checked the area for the nearest town or settlement, and after finding it he made sure to put a few mountains between them. Naruto then searched for a good location to make shelter and he eventually found a cave.

The cave was located in a cliff face, and the opening was a wide, but low crack running along the bottom. Inside however, the ceiling rose to a comfortable ten feet on average, with some areas rising to over thirty feet. The inside of the cave was massive, and stretched back over one hundred feet. All in all, it made for a decent camp, and would improve even more after he made some modifications. So he made a list of things to do, some immediately and other to do over time, and then started outfitting the cave for him to use it as shelter.

He first used his Blade to cut down a few trees and then slice them into lumber. This he used to build a proper entrance to the cave, closing the opening except for a small portion he would use as a door, by driving the lumber into the ground and using his Claws to shape the wood and form dovetails to make sure that everything would hold together even without nails.

The actual door for the entrance was a little trickier, but he solved this issue by using his Blade and running chakra through it. This allowed him to cut through stone, which he used to his advantage by shaping a large slab of stone that he fitted into the entrance to use as a door. It was so heavy that he had to use his Musclemass form to be able to move it, but this also meant that nothing else would be sneaking up on him either.

This took him all of his say to do, so he unsealed some rations and had dinner. One thing that he found odd about his new condition was that his storage seal moved from his left shoulder to the center of his chest. Apparently, when the virus had altered his body, it had also absorbed the storage seal he had and incorporated it. The shape and layout was also slightly different than before, the end result being that as far as he knew, he could now store unlimited items, and any excess biomass was now stored in his seal.

This allowed him to store excess biomass that he can use as needed instead of burning it off as fuel immediately. This allowed him to continuously heal wounds on the fly, and it possibly had some other uses that he wasn't aware of but wouldn't be able to use otherwise. Luckily for his stomach, his biomass seemed to be kept separate from everything else that was stored so he didn't have to worry about his food mixing with the flesh of his enemies. The last change he noticed was that his seal no longer produced any smoke when an item was sealed or unsealed.

After eating his dinner, he went to sleep in preparation for the next day.

* * *

Six year old Naruto was walking home after a day of self-training. It was a bit late as he had lost track of time, so the sun was beginning to set. Naruto was going at a calm pace, but inside he was nearly frantic. It was around this time that if he was caught outside he would be beaten by the villagers, but if he started hurrying that would only encourage them and guarantee that a "fox hunt" would start.

So he walked calmly and at only a slightly faster pace than normal. Still, he also kept his senses open for any signs of people following him. It was when he was around half way to his house that he started to hear the footsteps. Not turning his head to look back since that would only signal the start of the chase, he kept walking and then looked from the corner of his eye as he turned a corner.

He saw 10 people walking after him, with more starting to join them. What was worse was that he recognized some of them as the more sadistic of his tormentors. Naruto kept walking, knowing that no matter what they were going to hunt him down tonight. So as soon as he turned the next corner, he took off, hoping to get enough distance between them that by the time they reached the corner and saw that he had run he would be too far ahead of them for them to catch up.

Soon enough, he heard the sounds of pursuit. Apparently he didn't manage to get far enough away. Shuriken suddenly started landing on either side of him. _'Shit, they have ninjas with them!'_ thought Naruto. Luckily for him they seemed to be only Genin level since they weren't very accurate, at best they were low Chunin. If there were any Jonin among them then he would never manage to get away.

Naruto heard the cries of his pursuers, demanding that he stop and allow them their fun and payback and calling him all kinds of demeaning names. Naruto ignored them as best he could and kept running. He made sure to take as many corners as he could while not heading away from his home. He didn't want to risk any of them running ahead of him and laying a trap, but at the same time he wanted to make sure that they didn't have a clear line of sight.

Their aim may suck, but that didn't mean they couldn't get lucky.

Unfortunately for Naruto, one of the streets he turned down on was under construction and was blocked off until finished. He quickly tried to run back out, but before he could the crowd arrived, now more than thirty strong. Naruto desperately looked around for a way out, but then a kunai suddenly buried itself in his leg.

Howling in shock at the sudden pain, Naruto collapsed, clutching his leg. He looked up to see his tormentors surrounding him. One of the ninjas in the crowd turned to the others and said, "You know, I just learned a useful technique last week, and I've been dying to try it out. I think I just found my chance." Smirking, he turned back to Naruto, and after making a few hand signs, lifted a palm that was laced with electricity.

Naruto shrunk back as the hand slowly descended towards him. He let out a scream as it came in contact with his flesh.

* * *

Naruto started awake, his body shivering at the cold, but covered with sweat. It's been a while since his last nightmare, and this one was about one of his more vicious attacks. He had been tortured almost all night, with various small lightning and fire jutsu being used on vulnerable parts of his body. The common villagers used padded weapons to make sure that while they hurt him, they didn't cause any lasting damage. After letting him go, he had barely enough time to get home and change, before his family was up and starting their day.

Eventually, he stopped shivering and his heartbeat returned to normal. He checked the time and saw that it was morning and time to get up anyways. After another few minutes just holding himself, Naruto finally got up and started preparing for the day. After eating breakfast, he unsealed the scrolls he had copied from his clan library and separated them by topic. Once they were divided, he began to think of a training regimen to maximize the benefits he would achieve from training.

First, he would spend the first four hours of his day doing basic physical training. While the virus might give him a boost to his basic stats, but compared to some of the higher level shinobi from the village, he still had a long way to go.

After a quick break for lunch, he would then spend two hours practicing and experimenting with his abilities. After all, it would do no good to allow his greatest strength to get rusty, and there may be other abilities that he has yet to unlock.

After that, he would spend two hours on chakra control exercises, since he was still young and his chakra was still growing. After his chakra control exercises, he would then spend another two hours learning and practicing taijutsu and kenjutsu. These skills would only enhance his abilities and allow him to use them to their fullest.

After his taijutsu and kenjutsu training, he would then have dinner. After dinner, he would spend the next two hours training in ninjutsu, ending his training and giving him the rest of the day to hunt, prepare for the following day, and then free time.

Of course, he was free to modify the schedule as needed. If he felt that he needed to focus on a specific area, or that he was close to a breakthrough and needed to continue he would do so. Not to mention that this schedule didn't include fuinjutsu or genjutsu. He would rotate those two in as he could.

With his training schedule planned out, Naruto went out to start his day of training.

* * *

_-Three Weeks Later-_

It's been three weeks since Naruto has started his training regimen, and he was pleased with his progress. Due to his heritage and circumstances, he found himself making the most progress in fuinjutsu, training his body, and ninjutsu.

Fuinjutsu just seemed to come naturally to him. With the Uzumaki clan being famous for their mastery of the sealing arts, and his father being a seal master as well, it was almost expected that he would be able to pick up the art with ease. Although, while the practice and calligraphy of fuinjutsu was something that he needed to train in, the theory and understanding of seals and their parts came so easily to him that it was like he already knew the subject and was just refreshing him memory. This brought up again some disturbing thoughts and suspicions that he had, but he shoved them to the back of his mind in an attempt to ignore them.

As for training his body, not only did he have the body based bloodline of the Uzumaki that promoted rapid healing, but also as a carrier of the Blacklight virus his healing has increased to be almost instantaneous. This allowed him to both be able to push himself far harder than a normal person, but also to be able to recover quickly, thereby being able to experience the benefits of his training almost immediately. He now no longer needed his Musclemass ability to move the stone slab that served as a door to his cave, and his speed also greatly increased. When activating his powers, his strength was magnified even further.

As for his ninjutsu, he fully mastered two of the basic three to the point of not needing hand signs, with only the Bushin technique giving him difficulties. While not needing hand signs to perform, he could still only manage to produce a minimum of 20 clones without them appearing as if they were going to die shortly from some gruesome illness. He did manage to cover his weakness however by learning the Kage Bushin technique from one of the scrolls he copied. It was a clone technique that produced solid clones instead of illusionary ones.

This technique actually made clones that were useful in a fight by being able to use ninjutsu, not to mention that everything they learned was passed on to him after they dispelled. This allowed him to greatly speed up his training, by allowing him to train his body, while his clones learned new techniques and studied other areas that a ninja should know. The clones were able to do everything that he could, with the exception of consuming an opponent, so the only area they could not help him in was physical training.

After he mastered the technique to the point where he could produce clones without hand signs, he had started on his nature transformation training. Using a piece of chakra paper he had stolen, he found that his main affinity was wind. So every day he had made three hundred clones for training. He had one hundred and fifty clones train in his main affinity of wind transformation, seventy five clones train in water and lightning transformation each, and then fifty clones train in fire and earth transformation each.

This allowed him to cover all of his bases. While focusing on him main affinity, he also made sure to cover for his weakness of fire by learning water transformation, and then cover for that weakness of earth with lightning transformation. Then he also made sure to train in fire and earth transformation to make sure that he was well rounded. After all, the reason that most Jonins only had at most two types of nature transformation down was due to the fact that they did not have the time it would take to learn more types of nature transformation. An affinity to one type just means that it is easier to learn that type of nature transformation compared to other types. If that wasn't the case, then the sharingan wouldn't have been considered such a strong bloodline.

He was now midway through the point of the second stage of his wind nature transformation, and finishing up the first states for his water and lightning transformations. His earth and fire nature transformations are still around halfway through the first stage.

All in all, he felt that he had made good progress for the past three weeks, and he wanted to test out his results. To that end, he decided to have an all-out fight against a group of clones. Ready to start for the day, he went out to his "training ground", which was a clearing he found less than a mile away from his cave, and created a group of 20 clones. To maximize the difficulty, he made sure to have them only attack him in groups of four. More than that he had learned during his stay in New York, and usually opponents would only get in each other's way. While his clones could attack using more at once without interfering with each other, he still felt that he would get the maximum workout from this layout.

With everything else all set, Naruto shifted his left arm into Claws and he right arm into Blade mode and shouted out "Bring it!"

With that four separate clones dashed forwards, one of them using its Blade form, another using Claws, the third using Hammerfist, and the last hanging back slightly with Whipfist. The clone with Hammerfists flipped over Naruto and as soon as he landed he swung a massive fist at Naruto's back. Naruto leaped forwards out of the Hammerfists range, only to encounter the Blade clone swinging its sword at Naruto's legs while at Claws clone tried to pierce his chest.

Naruto jumped up over the sword of the Blade clone, and blocked the Claws with his own Blade. Then he used his Claws to catch the whip that was sent to his head by the Whipfist clone. Without stopping, Naruto spun in midair using the Claws clone as leverage and threw the Whipfist clone right into the path of a Hammerfist that the first clone swung at his back again. This caused the Whipfist clone to pop, and surprised the Hammerfist clone long enough that Naruto was able to finish his midair rotation and bring his Blade down on him, causing him to pop as well.

At the same time, Naruto used his Claws to catch the sword of his Blade clone and prevent himself from being bisected. The Claws clone then tried to decapitate him, and he ducked under the swing and returned the favor with his Blade. Still holding onto the Blade clones sword, Naruto jerked him forward, causing the clone to stumble, and then jumped up and kneed him in the face. As soon as the clone landed Naruto was on top of him and pierced his head with his Claws.

The next four clones ran forward; the first one with Musclemass activated, another with Hammerfists, the third with Claws, and the last with Shields on both arms. Seeing this arrangement, Naruto shifted his left arm to a Shield. It was just in time as well, seeing as the instant the Hammerfist clone closed in he launched an attack that would have caved in his chest. Naruto blocked it in time, but was launched backwards and he slammed into a tree. Even though he was slightly disoriented, he still had the presence of mind to duck under a swing from his Musclemass clone, which shattered the tree behind him.

His head now clear again, Naruto leaped forward, intending to bisect the Claws clone in front of him, only to have his Blade bounce off and to end up falling back. Naruto looked again and saw that his Shield clone had protected his comrade, and had a superior smirk that irked Naruto to no end, never mind that it was his own clone. Naruto dodged the Musclemass and Claws clones, and then jumped on top of his second clone's Hammerfist, using it as a launching pad to throw himself at the Shield clone.

The Shield clone saw this and raised his Shield to protect himself. This time, Naruto was the one with a superior smirk as he charged his Blade with wind chakra. This time, the Blade sliced cleanly through the Shield and the clone as well. Seeing this, the Claws clone channeled wind chakra and attacked Naruto. However, instead of cutting through Naruto the Claws only partially cut through his Shield. Unknown to the clone, Naruto saw what he was doing and charged his shield with earth chakra. While Naruto wasn't proficient enough in earth transformation to truly use it in battle, he was able to use it enough to partially charge his Shield, preventing his death.

Naruto then swung his Blade upwards, cutting the clone in two from groin to head. His Shield now fully regenerated, Naruto used it to block a Hammerfist, which also served the purpose of launching him out of the Musclemass clone's range. As soon as he landed, he dashed forwards and thrust his Blade ahead of himself, impaling the Hammerfist clone. Then he jumped back as he shifted his left arm into a Whipfist and used it to pierce the Musclemass clone through the heart.

As the next group of clones leaped forwards, they all got a sudden influx of memories. One of the sentry clones that he had posted around the clearing dispelled itself, reporting that there were a group of hikers heading in his direction. Cursing softly, Naruto dispelled the rest of his clones and took a break. He sat down at the foot of a tree, making sure to shift his clothes from his training gear to hiking gear.

Within a half an hour, a small family of three approached the clearing. The father of the group looked to be in his late thirties, early forties. He was fairly tall at 6' 4", and had short brown hair that parted to the left. He had nut brown eyes that seemed to always be alert, but was calm at the same time. He was fairly muscled, but with an athletic build instead of being thick like a body builder, and had a confident grace to his movements.

The mother of the group was also tall at 5' 11", and seemed to be the same age as her husband. She had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes like his, although not quite as bright. Her stride was not as confident as her husband's, but still had an air of elegance about it. She had a slim, but well-rounded figure, not as much as some of the kunoichi of the village, but definitely womanly. She was a fairly attractive woman overall, and her cheerful demeanor only seemed to increase it.

The daughter of the group seemed to be a carbon copy of her mother, although she did have her father's eyes and a slightly stronger jawline than her mother. She seemed to be about 4 years older than Naruto, and has the slim figure that comes from athletic competition. She seemed a bit more serious than her mother, but still carried an air of happiness around her.

The group stopped at the clearing to take a small break and they spotted Naruto who was sitting nearby. The father nodded in his direction and greeted him. "Hey there, we don't normally meet people in this part of the area. Most people prefer the trails closer to town."

"Hello." Naruto cautiously replied. His people skills were nonexistent, due to his childhood, or rather lack of one, and also due to the fact that when he finally stopped traveling he became infected and thus a target. Neither situation lends much to ease of conversing with strangers.

The man narrowed his eyes slightly at the terse answer. He looked around but did not find what he expected to see. "Hey kid, where's your parents? You're not here by yourself are you?"

Naruto narrowed his own eyes at the man's question. "…Yes, I'm here by myself." He replied after a few moments.

The mother of the group looked surprised. "What? Where are your parents? Why are you out here?"

Naruto began to get angry at all of the questions, but kept it mostly in, only showing a mild irritation. "I don't have parents." He answered truthfully, since he did not consider Minato and Kushina to be his parents. "As for why I'm here, it's because I like to be alone." And with that he got up and began to walk away.

"Hold on there squirt. We can't just leave you here by yourself; it gets cold out here at night, not to mention that there are sometimes bears and other animals out here. What will you do about food and shelter? What if you get hurt and there's no one around?" the man stated with concern in his voice.

Unused to hearing someone taking any sort of concern for him, Naruto was confused on how he should react. In the end, he just scowled and said, "I've been fine out here on my own for almost a month here. I can hunt and gather food just fine. I can take care of myself."

With that, Naruto turned away and quickly left the clearing. _'Just leave me alone. I don't know what you want, but leave me out of it.'_

The mother made as if she was going to go after him, but the father held her back. "Leave him for now, Mary. If he's been here as long as he's said he has, then he should be fine."

"But Jim," she replied, "he's just a child. How can we just leave him here?"

"We leave him here because he's _not_ just a child." was his response. "I've seen people like him before, back in Afghanistan. I don't know what happened to him, but he's been hurt badly and doesn't trust anyone. And with the way he moves, I can tell that he's been trained to fight. He's seen too much to be called a child, no matter how old he is."

The other two looked surprised at his statement. The girl looked worriedly in the direction that the boy went in. "but Dad, we still can't leave him here by himself. He's younger than I am!" she yelled.

"If we try to take him anywhere with us he'll just try to fight us. And he'll just be put into a home where he'll just escape again." Jim replied. "Don't worry you two, we can come back to check on him and make sure that he's alright. We just need to make sure that he has all the space he need, or he'll run somewhere else and we won't be able to help him."

"Alright dear, but I want to come back soon. I just can't leave a child out here on his own." Mary replied, and with that the group continued on their way.

* * *

_-Six Months Later-_

It's been six months since Naruto first met the Raven family. Since then, they made sure to visit him at least once a week to make sure that he was all right and didn't need anything. Whenever they would visit they would bring something for him, like a first aid kit, blankets, and some small meals. Every gift they brought him would produce a strange feeling in his chest, one that he had never felt before.

Of course, not knowing what that felling was, at first he would become defensive. But every time they came to check in on him, he would react less and less negatively. After some time he began to just accept the gifts and the feelings that they produced, and the strange warmth that seemed to fill him when he did. After feeling cold inside for so long, this warmth was pleasant.

This didn't mean that he was stupid about them. After their third visit, he made sure to follow them home and spy on them. He wanted to find out exactly why they kept coming to see him, even after he had made it clear that they were unwelcome. After shadowing them for a while, he realized that they were truly worried about him, not that he may be dangerous, but that he may be in danger by being by himself.

After that, he had slowly started to open up to them, seeing that they had no ulterior motive except his wellbeing. It was unusual to say the least, all of his life he had been hated, feared, or ignored. Having others that seemed to want to make sure that he was alright made him feel… happy. He finally began to understand that feeling that he had, as well as the warmth that he felt. He started to enjoy the feeling, since it was all too fleeting in his life previously. He began to relax around them, spending more and more time speaking to them during their frequent visits.

With Jim, he would talk about nature and survival training. They would speak about the different plants that were edible, as well as different medicinal uses various herbs that grew in the area had. They would speak about hunting tips, and about fishing. Naruto also let Jim know that he was training himself out here, and Jim spoke about his training in the Navy SEALs, from which Naruto took ideas to help his own training. Jim would also keep him abreast of what was going on in the world outside of the mountains, and made sure that he was ready for the change in seasons.

With Mary he would speak about cooking and gardening, two activities which he enjoyed as they allowed him to focus on things other than his life. He would also speak about the different places he's been, and the sights that he's seen, although he made sure to keep out anything that would lead to his past. She would try to get him to open up, as after a while she sensed that his gruff front that he put up was mostly a mask he used to protect himself. While she had little success, she did get bits and pieces enough to know that he had been abused terribly in his life. This knowledge nearly brought her to tears, and made her determined to help him as much as she could.

With the daughter of the group, whose name was May, he would mostly talk about track. After she learned that he could run for miles without breaking a sweat, she began to talk with him animatedly about long distance running, including her favorite athletes and her dreams of being an Olympian. They exchanged training tips to build up stamina, and then she would speak about her school track team. Otherwise, they would talk about small things, and she would let him know about what was going on among their age group. She spoke about different movies that were out, and what music was popular.

All in all, they began to earn a place for themselves in his heart, becoming the first of his precious people. He found himself becoming despondent when they left, and looking forwards to their next visit.

During all this time, he continued his training, and made sure that they did not find out what he could do. Now it was no longer a matter of mistrust, but of fear that they would see him as different, as inhuman. He finally had people who saw him as him, and was afraid that he would lose that. So he hid that aspect of himself while he was around them.

Now however, he was finally going to face what he's been putting off for a while. Those nagging thoughts and memories that he kept having were finally something that he could no longer ignore. Tonight, he was going to check on something that he never thought that he would see. He was going to try to speak with the fox in his gut to confirm his suspicions.

That night, after making sure that all of the preparations were complete, Naruto laid down on his makeshift bed. Focusing his mind and chakra, he concentrated on his seal and tried to go into his mindscape. After a few minutes of concentrating, his body went completely limp as his consciousness went elsewhere.

* * *

_-Mindscape-_

Naruto suddenly found himself standing in a sewer. Looking around, he saw cracks everywhere, although it looked like some of them were being repaired. He could see multiple pipes leading down the tunnel he was in, and they were leaking water into the 6 inches of water he was standing in. Besides that, the walls were also covered in red and black tendrils. Naruto was unsure if his mindscape would also contain his new condition, but with it being so integral to what he is now, he wasn't surprised.

Sighing at the state of his mindscape, Naruto started down the tunnel. Eventually, he came across a large cavern. It was larger than anything that should have been physically possible in nature, and extremely difficult to do by man if not impossible as well. An entire city could have fit inside the cavern and had room left over. The other thing that he noticed was that this cavern was also covered in red and black tendrils, which did not bode well in his mind.

Partway down the cavern, huge bars were standing in a line going across the entire room. These were the bars to the cage that the Kyuubi was sealed in. Naruto confirmed that he was in the right place by seeing a sealing tag that was placed across the gate to the cage. He looked into the cage, trying to make out the form of the fox within the murky darkness.

"Kyuubi no Kitsune?" shouted Naruto, attempting to call out the strongest of the biju. All he heard in return was nothing. In a slight panic now, he tried again, "Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

Again nothing.

In panic mode now, Naruto ran to the bars, desperate to see something to disprove the thoughts that had been running through his mind. His eyes not penetrating the darkness, he growled in frustration and wished for better lighting so that he could see. All of a sudden, in accordance with his will, the entire cavern was illuminated in a bright light. After giving his eyes a few moments to adjust, he looked inside the cage and gasped.

The cage was empty.

The Kyuubi had been consumed.

* * *

**A/N: And there is the second aspect of my story that was by "The Darkest Light" by Halo12094. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3: Home

**A/N: Wow, a lot of good reviews for this. I want to thank everyone who posted a review, more reviews keeps me happy and a happy me makes writing fun. So thanks for all of the reviews. My computer crashed, and I lost a lot of work I had done for this chapter, as well as rewrites for my other story. I only managed to get a replacement a few days ago, and had to redo this entire chapter.**

**NxKxMxKxM brought up a very good point about Disguise vs. Henge, but there is a reason that I want Naruto to master Henge which will appear later on in the story. To make things clear, Naruto WILL eventually go back to the Elemental Nations (as per the summary), but there are still things that have to happen first. Again, I will not specify anything that may or may not happen (except for whatever I gave away in the summary, kinda hard not to).**

**To answer chaosglory626, there are a few differences between canon Naruto and my version. The first difference is that he is used to processing lifetimes worth of knowledge and memories in one go after having gone through the events of the first Prototype game. He's Consumed many, many people, and gained all of their memories. A few hours worth of training, even from hundreds of clones, does not compare to that. **

**As to your second point, if you notice, he's not training in any aspect that he has Consumed yet (that he knew of). All he is training in is in the ninja arts, and there are no ninjas for him to Consume outside of the Elemental Nations. He currently has no plans to go back there, so the only way for him to learn is to train. Also, while you are mostly right about him learning skills and kekkei genkai by Consuming opponents, he would still have to train them if he wants to use them with his body. Every person's body is different; the way a tall, slender person punches is different from a short, stocky person. And I assume that no two people have tenketsu in the exact same spots (Although they should be very close. This is why the Byakugan is needed for the Gentle Fist to work, instead of just memorizing anatomy). This means that while he can use the skills of anyone he Consumes, unless he shifts his body into the person that he Consumed, he will be unable to use a skill with the same mastery that the original did, although it should be close. And that's assuming that the person mastered the skill in the first place.**

**Point number three, yes the virus could potentially be released by Naruto falling unconscious, but remember: Naruto has a VERY strong will. Even asleep or unconscious, his subconscious is capable of holding back the virus. He really, _really_, does not want to be a monster, in ANY way. That would just prove the villagers right, and he'd rather die before doing that.**

**As for point number four, I honestly forgot about it. So I'll just explain it away as him having used up most of the biomass while fighting Gentek.**

**To answer another question that was made, no he does not need to eat any more. All he needs to do is Consume biomass to stay alive (I'm making it so that just staying alive burns biomass, just like we burn calories, not to mention using powers and healing himself). However, that does not mean that he does not eat. He has a sense of taste, and eating good food is enjoyable. So why not take in biomass through eating it?**

**As for suggestions, I thank everyone for any suggestions they may have. I do already have an idea as to how I want everything to go, at least up to his return, so I most likely won't use any plot suggestions until then. Any minor suggestions are welcome however, and if I like them I will incorporate them along with giving credit to the suggestor.**

**As for how the Kyuubi was consumed and why there was no Web of Intrigue in the second chapter, if you check the first chapter, you can see the signs of when the Kyuubi was consumed there (it happened when Naruto was shot). When Naruto was infected, this gave the virus knowledge on how to use chakra. This in turn allowed the virus to access the two seals on Naruto's body (the storage and Kyuubi seals). That is how the Kyuubi was consumed, and the Web of Intrigue happened then, but Naruto subconsciously suppressed it due to the fact that he did NOT want to be a demon.**

**As a heads up, Naruto did not actually die then, at least not fully. His heart stopped for a few moments after he passed out (he was checked for a heartbeat then, which is why everyone thought he was dead) but his healing factor kicked in and restarted his heart. After he had finished assimilating the Kyuubi, he woke up and found himself in a morgue. So he is not the virus thinking that it is Naruto, but Naruto with the powers of the virus.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon/Large Summon Speech"**

**_'Demon/Large Summon Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 3: Home

_-One Week Later-_

Naruto leaned back against the cliff-side where he made his home. It's been one week since he learned that the being that he had sealed inside of himself had been consumed and absorbed by him, and Naruto was now contemplating the results of finally having sorted through the majority of the Kyuu… no, _Kurama's_ memories. While he didn't actually re-live most of the memories, he did see enough of them to organize them in his head so that he could review them later, as well as to give him a better understanding of the being that was inside of him. In the end, there was only one thing that he could say.

As bad as Naruto's life was, Kurama's was a hundred times worse.

Everything that Naruto lived through; Kurama had gone through as well. Well, maybe not the beatings… but the hatred and persecution were old news to him. Kurama's earliest memory was of him and his brothers and sisters losing their father after he gave them their names, and his last piece of wisdom. After that, they were all hunted down and enslaved for the power that they had. Even though they tried to help humanity and bring peace like their father wanted, mankind stole their freedom and strength and used it to wage war.

Eventually he was the only one that was left, and he was forced to wander alone, wondering if he would ever see his family again. Finally he was also enslaved by those damned eyes that were a mockery of his father's eyes. A member of the clan of power-hungry war mongers that defiled the wish of their greatest ancestor, his own father, and tried to subjugate everyone else had forced him to fight. And after that he was enslaved _again_, and this time forced to watch as his family was traded away like party favors!

He was forced to live his live imprisoned in the wife of the first Hokage, and then was placed inside an even worse seal, one that actively tortured him and forced him to give his power away! And when he finally escapes, THOSE DAMNED EYES AGAIN! And then he is imprisoned again, although at least the torture stopped, only to finally be killed. Not only that, but killed in a way that would prevent his reformation in the world.

Yeah, Kurama's life beat his hands down in terms of crap.

Naruto felt extreme guilt over what had happened to Kurama. While he knew that he could not have prevented his death, he still wished that he could have done something for one who had suffered as much as Kurama had. No one should have been forced to go through the things that he had.

The Ravens had noticed how his mood seemed to have changed and had asked if everything was OK. He responded that he had finally gone through the journal of someone who had been very close to him, but had passed away, and found out what a hard life he had. They understood, and did not bring up the subject again, although they did keep a closer eye on him and made sure that he had everything he needed.

Naruto sighed at both how bad Kurama had it, and at how he had worried the Ravens. He had to admit that they had grown on him during the time that he had met them, and he looked forward to their visits. They had truly become the most precious people in his life and he would do anything for them.

Seeing as it was early in the day, Naruto decided to start practicing some of the techniques that he had learned from Kurama's memories. He quickly got up and ran to the most secluded area he could find. Although he was going to keep everything low powered, he still wanted to do everything he could to reduce the chance of alerting anyone that there was something going on.

Once Naruto arrived, he looked around to make sure that there were no hikers. After having the Ravens stumble across his training, he wanted to make sure that he wasn't disturbed again. This clearing was much smaller than his usual training ground, being less of a clearing and more of a small spot without trees. There was a cliff face nearby, which was going to be the target of his training, and to his left there was a small stream that he could use for water when he needed a break. All he had to do was use a basic water jutsu to remove only pure water and he was good to go.

Having confirmed that there was no one close by, Naruto sat down and meditated. So far, Naruto had not noticed an increase to his chakra reserves, so he reasoned that Kurama's chakra was still separate from his own, and needed to be accessed. So to discover it, Naruto decided to return to the same basic meditation he used to first find his own chakra years ago.

After a few minutes of meditation, Naruto sensed his own chakra within him. Ignoring it for now, he continued searching within himself for Kurama's chakra. After half an hour of searching, Naruto figured that since Kurama's chakra was sealed into his sister, there was nothing for the virus to consume. As he was about to pull out however, he sense something. Focusing on the new sensation, he felt another source of power.

When describing his own chakra, Naruto would say that it felt "blue". Almost all other chakra users would describe their chakra the same way. This power however, had a different feeling to it. If he had to describe it, it would be "red". However, as he studied the power, he found that his first assessment was wrong. It was not red, or at least not totally red, but in fact it was a red mantle surrounding a golden center. Naruto found it fitting, considering that he saw Kurama as a pure soul wrapped in a righteous anger for what had been done to him and his family.

Having felt this power, Naruto left his meditation and stood up. Focusing on the feeling that Kurama's chakra produced, he began to lightly touch upon it. Instantly, he felt stronger and he found that his senses were heightened. Pressing down on the chakra a little more, a red shroud began to form around him. Deciding to see what he looked like, Naruto made a clone that Henged into a mirror. He could have had the clone access the chakra, but since he didn't know how it would react he decided to experiment later.

Looking at his reflection, Naruto saw that the chakra shroud had taken a foxlike appearance with two tails behind him, and his eyes were now red and slitted. As he used more or less chakra, the number of tails, and his strength, went up and down. He did notice however that he had trouble controlling how much of the chakra he used, causing him to misjudge how much chakra he needed to form a specific number of tails. Instead of forming the number of tails that he chose, he would form a tail more or less than he wanted. He realized that he would have to focus on chakra control again for Kurama's chakra. Even if Kurama had perfect control over his chakra, the physical differences between Naruto and a giant, nine-tailed fox had to be taken into account. He could probably control it perfectly if he shifted his form into Kurama's but he wanted to make sure that he could fight perfectly in his base form.

Having experimented enough with his chakra shroud, Naruto pushed past the red chakra and entered the golden core. Immediately he noticed a change. Instead of the chakra forming a shroud around him, his body seemed to transform itself into golden flames made of chakra, although nothing caught on fire. He was amazed at the difference, and he noticed black markings appear on his body. There were six magatama around his neck, and black markings that seemed to be centered on a seal on his stomach but spread to his limbs. His hair also stood up, giving him the appearance of having horns, and his eyes were orange. All in all, he seemed to look like a rendition of the Sage of the Six Paths that he saw in a book once.

He was pleased to notice however that the seal on his stomach and on his shoulders looked like a biohazard symbol, which he had begun taking as his personal symbol. He credited that to the influence of the virus; no doubt that otherwise he would have had Uzumaki swirls in their place instead. As much as he might benefit from their bloodline and knowledge, he wanted to distance himself from Minato and Kushina as much as possible, and not having an of their clan symbols on him was a plus in his books.

Deciding to finish this portion of the experimentation, Naruto accessed the entirety of Kurama's chakra. Doing this, his torso turned black and his markings turned golden instead. They also changed their positioning slightly. But he also formed a golden cloak that seemed to be made out of flames. He noted with slight irritation that it looked similar to Minato's cloak, but still he thought that the overall impression was badass, so he put it behind him.

After admiring his form for a few moments longer, he decided to start training on his abilities. The first thing that he wanted to try was the Bijudama. From Kurama's memories, he saw that the power that it contains is immense, and should be learned so that he could use it as a game changer if needed. He also wanted to learn how to create the attack without having to place it in his mouth. Not only was it slightly disgusting, looking like the user was throwing up, it was also unwieldy. He wanted to instead be able to use the attack from his hands. He would be better able to use it and aim it with higher accuracy. Not only that, but he could potentially use two attacks at the same time.

However, even though he wanted to try that first, he knew that before anything else what he needed to do was test out his body's new capabilities while in this mode. No matter how strong his attacks are, unless he has a body that can keep up (or in this case he can keep up with his body), his attacks would be all useless. With that in mind, he walked to one end of the clearing and prepared to sprint to the other side.

_'Let's try going at a light pace.'_ he thought to himself and began running… only to crash face first _through_ a tree on the other side in an instant. He fell to the ground and began rolling around clutching his face.

"OWOWOWOW… wait, that didn't really hurt." Naruto said to himself as he sat up. He slowly stood up and began stretching himself, checking for any injuries that might have occurred. Finding none, a large grin spread across his face. "I'm even tougher now? … Now that's just cool. I still need to get used to moving at high speed, but this just proves it. I. Am. Awesome!"

Naruto then spent the rest of the day getting used to his new speed. By this time, he had started to get a hold of his new physical abilities although he still couldn't go all out. As the sun started to set, Naruto stopped channeling Kurama's chakra, and looked around himself. Although he was becoming used to the extreme high speed movement, he has still caused a lot of damage to the surrounding clearing. Dozens of trees had collapsed, and there were craters in the nearby cliff face.

He decided to end the day there and pick up again the next day. He made his way to his campsite, and finished his preparations for the day.

* * *

_-A Week Later-_

Naruto had finally gotten used to his newfound speed and strength, although only enough to control it. He could determine how fast he wanted to go, or how much strength he wanted to use, but if he tried to use more than a quarter of his speed, he would still crash into objects. He was making good process however, and figured that he would be able to fully use his speed by the end of the year.

Now however, it was time for another visit by the Ravens. He noticed that the last time that they visited a few days ago, they seemed pensive about something, but he decided not to pry. Around four in the afternoon, he heard their footsteps and got ready to greet them.

As soon as they appeared, Naruto could tell that they had a hopeful expression, like they were expecting something. He was curious as to what they were up to, but decided to wait for them to bring up what they wanted.

After a few hours together, Jim looked at Mary and the two seemed to have a quick but silent conversation through their eyes alone. _'Maybe their related to the Uchiha clan'_ Naruto thought humorously.

After coming to a conclusion, Jim turned to Naruto and cleared his throat. He then started speaking. "Naruto, the family and I have been talking with each other, and we've all agreed with a certain decision, if you accept it that is."

Slightly wary due to being unsure as to what is going on, Naruto indicated for Jim to continue.

"Well, you see…" said Jim, unsure as to how to put into words his next thought, "we've been speaking, and we would like to invite you to live with us, as part of our family."

Naruto was stunned, and it showed on his shocked face. They wanted him to join their family? They wanted to adopt him? Why? Why would they do that? Due to his upbringing, or rather lack of one, he never thought that he would ever be wanted as part of a family. Maybe he would one day be able to start his own, but to find people who wanted him as a son? Impossible. And yet, here they were, making that very offer.

He considered his feelings for the Ravens. He knew that he considered them as his precious people, but were they family? He wasn't sure. Not because he wasn't sure about his feelings for them, but because he wasn't sure as to what family was. Despite having Minato, Kushina, and Natsumi in his life, he could never consider them as family. The three of them ignored him completely, to the point that he knew that they sometimes forgot that they had a son. That isn't a family, but that was the only thing he knew a family to be.

Did he want the Ravens as a family? Was a family the thing that he imagined it was from secretly watching other families? From watching Minato and Kushina with Natsumi? But what if that wasn't what a real family was? How would this change his relationship with the Ravens? All of these thought were whirling through his head at extreme speeds, as if they were using Hiraishin.

Sensing the turmoil in his thoughts, Mary said to him, "You don't have to make any decision now. Take your time and think it over. We know that this is a big choice for you, and that it will change a lot of things for you, so you don't need to rush anything. And no matter what you choose, please know that we care for you and that will not change."

Naruto's thoughts calmed down after hearing her words. He had time, he didn't have to choose now… but at the same time, they solidified another decision that he knew had to be made. The fact that they even offered him a choice to join them, that alone solidified them in his heart and made them hold his utmost trust.

"Thank you for giving me this chance," Naruto said softly. "but before I give you an answer, there are some things that you should know about me first." Naruto thought for a bit, and turned to Jim. "Can you follow me for a bit? I have to show you something, and then I'll let you decide the next step." He said.

Slightly confused, Jim nodded his head, and the two began walking away from the clearing. Naruto lead him to his campsite, but did not let him in yet. This was the first time anyone had seen where he was living, and he wanted to give Jim some background information first before showing him any superhuman feats.

Jim, seeing the camp, quickly figured that this was where Naruto was living, but couldn't see any way for him to get inside. Sure, there was a large slab of stone making what appeared to be a door, but for the life of him, he couldn't see any way for Naruto to move it. Heck, he couldn't figure out a way for himself to move it. That stone looked _heavy_.

Naruto thought for a bit, and then turned to Jim and said, "I have a lot to tell you, but for you to believe me, first I need to show you."

With that, Naruto turned and walked to a nearby tree. Jim looked on with confusion, especially when Naruto placed a foot on the trunk of the tree. His confusion however, turned to a mixture of wonder and disbelief when Naruto placed his other foot on the tree as well and then proceeded to _walk up the tree_. He gawked as Naruto reached a large branch, and continued to walk along the underside of the branch.

Naruto looked down and snickered at the gob-smacked expression on Jim's face. He released his hold on the tree, dropping down and flipping in midair to land on his feet. Looking at Jim, he said "You see, I'm not from around here…"

* * *

-Three Days Later-

Today was the day that he was going to speak with the Ravens about joining their family. Three days ago, he had Given Jim a rundown of the Elemental Nations. He explained about the different nations, their culture, about ninjas and the hidden villages, and about chakra.

He gave a few more demonstrations as to what could be done with chakra, but then informed Jim that he couldn't teach him or the rest of the family to use chakra. They were too old to start accessing and using chakra, their chakra pathways were set and withered from disuse. The oldest that a person could be was before puberty kicked in, as that seemed to lock down on the potential that a person had for learning chakra.

He then explained that he called Jim aside and showed him this separately because he did not know how much he should let the others know. Since Jim used to be in the military, he would know how valuable this knowledge was, as well as what others would do to get their hands on it. Therefore, Jim should decide what his family would know, and what should be kept from them. He also asked Jim to come back the next day, so that he could hear Naruto's personal story.

Jim came back the next day, and Naruto explained about his life. He started speaking about the Biju, and how on the day of his birth a masked man caused the Kyuubi to attack his village. He then explained about how the Third Hokage gave up his life to seal away the Kyuubi, and then explained his treatment by the village and his family.

To say that Jim was horrified was an understatement. There were parts of the story that made him unable to hold back his own tears, damn his image. Naruto spared nothing of his treatment in the village, and of his parent's lack of care. There were points that caused Jim to run to some bushed to vomit, they were so bad. He cursed Konoha and Naruto's ex-family, for the monstrosities that they performed on him. He wondered as to how Naruto wasn't insane or broken, and marveled at his absolute will for never giving in.

Naruto left off on the story with his exit of the Elemental Nations, and his arrival on the shores of California, and then asked Jim to come again the next day, so that he could finish his tale.

Then yesterday, Naruto had explained the events of New York, and how they had changed him. He explained about the virus, and showed Jim some of his powers. In some ways, this was the hardest part for Naruto. This was about events that Jim knew about, and had formed opinions on. This was something that Jim had enough understanding of to be properly afraid. What if his family was somehow accidentally infected? This was something that he would have to consider, and could change his offer to join his family.

After all this, Naruto had asked Jim if he had any questions. While he did have many, many questions racing through his head, Jim had known that these questions could wait until afterwards and weren't fully relevant to the choices that they were going to make. They were important, but wouldn't really make a difference in their choices. Expect for one that is.

"Have you killed anyone that had nothing to do with any of this?" Jim had asked. Naruto stayed silent for a few moments, and then softly confirmed that he had Consumed innocents. He explained the circumstances of his actions, being that he was heavily injured in fights with both the military and the infected, and that there were times that he had to choose between dying, or killing and Consuming a bystander to heal himself so that he could continue fighting. He had rationalized his choices, in that if he had died, then the victim would have died anyways, along with countless others. And even then, he had tried to pick his victims to try to avoid children, women, and parents as much as possible. He knew that it made little difference to the families of the deceased, but it was his own way of minimizing the affected.

Jim kept silent through-out Naruto's explanation, and just nodded when he finished. He then got up to go discuss all of this with his family, but before he left he had asked one final question.

"… If you had a choice, and found yourself in the same situation again, would you do the same again?" Naruto again stayed silent for a few moments, before looking away and nodding while shedding a small tear. With that, Jim had left to speak with his family.

Now was the day that the Ravens would appear once more. Would the offer to join them still be open? Would he accept if it was? Could he accept, knowing what he was and what he had done?

With these thoughts, it was a nervous Naruto that found himself facing the Ravens a few hours later. They were seated around a campfire he had setup earlier in the clearing where they first met. He had taken the time to properly set one up, and had prepared logs for them to use as stools. He looked at them carefully, seeing their serious expressions and noting that they seemed just as nervous as he was. He waited with bated breath, having decided to let them make the first move.

Sensing this, Jim looked at his family and then turned to Naruto. "Naruto, we've been talking about what you've told me over the past few days. After thinking about it, I told them everything, although not in the same detail you did. I figured that if you were going to be a part of this family that they should know." Naruto blinked at this, not knowing how to react.

At this point Mary cut in. "We spent a lot of time last night talking over everything, and trying to figure out how this changes things. Because something this big _does_ change things, there's no way that it can't." She glanced over to her husband. Seeing his queue, he continued.

"You've killed people, and innocent people at that. That's not something that we neither can nor should ignore." As he heard all of this, Naruto felt himself sinking more and more. _'They hate me now.'_ he thought to himself.

"That being said, I've killed people as well. I was a soldier, and I fought overseas. I know what battle is like, but even I can't imagine what it was like in New York. You made choices and have chosen to live with the consequences of your actions. You fully accepted the guilt and acknowledged that part of yourself instead of running away. That shows maturity in ways that most people don't understand."

Mary continued. "We can't judge you, because frankly no one can. No one has been in any situation quite like yours. You had no formal training, and you could have run away and let innocents die. Instead, you chose to fight and try to protect as many as you could. Even if you killed some of them..." at this she gave a pause before continuing, "… you still did it only for the benefit of others, not just yourself. I'm not a fighter, just the wife of one, so I'm not the best choice to say what you should have done. But I do know this… there have been cases where people have killed others in emergency situations so that they and others could live. An example of this was on the Titanic. There were not enough lifeboats for everyone, so those who managed to get on one were forced to keep others from boarding and capsizing the boats. Are they murderers? Are they monsters?"

Jim picked up again. "The only thing that we can say is, we've come to know you as a person over the months that we've known you. We know that you are kind, but hurt and afraid. You're smart and funny, and can be adventurous, but you're also calm and collected. You want to be close to others, but at the same time you don't think that you _deserve_ to be, and push others away. Knowing your story, we know why that is, and can even partially understand it. You have your good points, and also things about you that we… dislike as well. That holds true for all of us. Taking all of that into account, we've decided to ask you again, do you want to join our family?"

With this, Naruto was openly crying. How could they still want him to be part of their lives, even after knowing that he's a monster? Even with all that he's done? How? Unable to speak, he simply nodded his acceptance, covering his face with his hands. He felt the Ravens gather around him, and all of them hugged him as one, welcoming him into their family. He just cried harder, fully weeping with emotion at the love he felt, both from them, and the love and gratefulness he felt for them.

It felt right.

It felt like home.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter three - done. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**** As a heads up, I'm also starting a few new stories, so updates for this story will most likely not be speedy. I'll update the most quickly the stories that catch my interest the most (currently it's this one), but I will still be working on all of my stories. To reassure everyone, I will never abandon any story, although I may take a break from one if there is no inspiration currently for it. Check my profile to see what the upcoming stories are and feel free to send me a message as to what you think about them.**

**Also, the next chapter is going to be fairly short in comparison to the others. It's more of a transition chapter to show some changes before starting the next arc of the story. I will most likely post it within a week, but most updates will probably not be that fast or short.**


	4. Chapter 4: Prelude to Return

**A/N: Hey everyone, here is the next chapter. This chapter is fairly short compared to the previous chapters. It's mostly just to lead everyone into the next arc of the story, as well as to provide an update as to what happened during the time skip that occurred in-between the last chapter and the upcoming one.**

**One person asked if Naruto had consumed any psychologists during his time fighting Gentek, to which I ask the following. Considering that they routinely conducted inhumane and insane experiments on human beings and were creating a virus to give soldiers super powers, do you honestly think that they actually HAD any psychologists in the staff? And if they did, would YOU trust any that would work with people like that and not have them all locked up, or trust anything coming from them?**

**Plus I don't know anything about psychology besides common knowledge, so I won't be including anything like that.**

**I don't own Naruto. Slavery is illegal.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon/Large Summon Speech"**

**_'Demon/Large Summon Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 4: Prelude to Return

-Two Years Later-

It's been two years since Naruto was adopted by the Ravens, and Naruto is now ten and a half years of age. During this time with them, he's grown quite a bit both physically and in ability. Naruto is now rather tall for his age at 4'6", and his body has the lean musculature of an athlete that was fairly well defined. Almost all of his baby fat is gone due to all of the training he puts himself through, making him look more like Minato that he would prefer.

In this time, he had gotten even closer to his new family, and learned more about them. He saw even more the silent strength with which Jim seemed to do everything, and how he was always willing to help wherever he could. It was more than strength of arms, but an inner strength of will aligned with a good heart. More than anything else, he saw that Jim was a good man.

He was currently a machinist in the local factory; having retired from active duty in the military he chose a quiet life for the most part. He still kept up some training, but it was mostly out of habit more than anything.

He had tried to help Naruto in his training with modern day tactics and strategy, but seeing as the number of military personnel that Naruto had already consumed meant that he had more experience and training than Jim, it was an exercise in futility, although Naruto did appreciate the gesture and the interest that Jim showed. It was far more than Minato had done.

In Mary he had the mother he always wanted. She would fuss over him and always seemed to want to smother him with her love. He found out that she had a habit of singing in the shower, quite well actually, as well as when she cooked or did most tasks. Her cooking was excellent, and she even learned how to make ramen for him for special occasions. She was his light, always bringing happiness and joy to all around her. She never seemed sad for long, unless it was for someone else.

In his sister May, Naruto found his greatest friend and supporter. Since he didn't go to school, for the obvious reasons of having consumed all the knowledge he needed, as well as not having any documentation, he hardly knew anyone else his age. So to keep him from being socially awkward, she would introduce him to her friends, and invite him every time she went out. She introduced him to new music, movies, and fashion. She encouraged him to go out and have fun occasionally instead of always training.

Together, they formed the core of his world, and he couldn't be happier. He finally had that which he had always desired, and he was not going to take it for granted. He cherished every moment he had with them.

This was not to say that there were no issues. He argued and fought with them as any child would with his family. But he loved them and he knew that they loved him, and they always made up with each other.

In regards to his training, when May left in the mornings for school, he would head to his training grounds in the mountains. With his speed, the trip was quick and he was isolated enough to not worry about any watchers.

During the last few years, he had managed to fully control Kurama's chakra. He was now able to instantly activate his fox shroud at the specific number of tails that he desired, and could instinctively control it to produce extra limbs or use the tails for attack and defense. He could also activate the golden cloak in an instant without having to first go through his fox shroud.

As for his skills with Kurama's chakra, Naruto managed to master the Bijudama. Using the fuinjutsu knowledge he gained from the memories of Mito Uzumaki, Naruto modified a cave he found that was near his most isolated training grounds and reinforced it with seals to prevent any signs of his training from reaching the rest of the world. In there, he could fire… well, not full powered blasts, but ones strong enough for him to get a feel for it. He managed to figure out the trick to firing a blast from his hands, and could now fire them from either hand. He hadn't quite yet managed to fire two blasts simultaneously, but he figured that it wouldn't take much longer.

One thing that he was determined to figure out a way to do was to use the golden portion of Kurama's chakra without having to go into his cloaked form. As cool as he thought it looked, he knew that it was too inconspicuous and that it would make him stand out like a sore thumb. After all, a light bulb is not the stealthiest item in the world, so glowing like one won't help him stay hidden. So he decided to try to find a way to access Kurama's full chakra without any sign of it being done. After a lot of trial and error, he managed to limit the transformation to the limb that the chakra was being used in. It took a lot of work, but he's getting there. He hoped to finish hiding the signs of activating Kurama's chakra within the next year.

Add all that to his review and practice of seals, going over and learning the jutsus in both Kurama's memories and in the scrolls he copied from Minato's library, and his mastery of three different nature transformations for his chakra, while achieving a high proficiency in the other two, and he had become quite the powerhouse.

Still, Naruto knew that there's always something out there that can take everything away from you, and with his newfound family, that was the last thing that he wanted to risk. So he continued to train, determined to become the strongest ever. Not for fame, but to protect the people who saved him from the hell of loneliness. To prevent himself from ever going back to that place ever again. And to protect their happiness.

After having finished another day of training, Naruto quickly made his way home from the mountains. It was evening and the stars were beginning to come out by the time he arrived. He entered the house to find the rest of the family in the living room watching TV. This was a fairly normal event, which on average would not have even caught his attention. However, seeing the grim expressions on everyone's faces caused him to pause.

"Hey, is everything all right?" Naruto queried his family. They looked at him with concern clear on their faces, and then Jim indicated for him to take a look on the television.

Naruto walked around the couch where everyone was seated, and saw that there was an emergency broadcast going on. After a few moments of watching, Naruto felt his knees go weak from shock and he had to struggle to not fall to the ground. He played close attention to the report.

"Once again, this is David Marksfellow reporting live from just outside New York, where it is being reported that another outbreak of the Mercer virus is being reported." said a tall, brown haired reporter with a mustache. "It's unknown right now the extent or which the virus has spread, but officials have already placed the entire city under quarantine, and have locked down the city. They are clearly remembering the events that occurred two years ago, and are taking this new outbreak very seriously."

"While the full extent of the virus outbreak is still unknown, we have begun to receive reports on the basics of the plan that the government is using to stop the progression of the virus before it gets out of hand. According to the report, New York will be sectioned off into three 'zones' to prevent the virus from spreading. In the first zone, also known as the Red Zone, is where the infection is heaviest and the focus of security is being placed."

"The second section, known as the Yellow Zone, is where there is some infected activity, but is for the most part infection free. Everyone that is suspected to possibly be infected but is not showing signs of infection, will be kept in this section until the virus has been neutralized."

"Finally the last division is the Green Zone. This area is infection free, and is also where the base of operations for overseeing the quarantine is being held. Everyone that is confirmed to be free of infection is moved to this zone to protect them from infection, and to prevent the spread of the virus as much as possible. As of now, we are currently unable to reach a member of the quarantine unit for an interview or a press conference, but we are reaching out…"

Naruto tuned out the rest of the report. Everything that he had experienced just after being infected by the virus had just come to nothing. He had fought to eradicate the virus, and to prevent the loss of lives, but it seems that his efforts were for not. He clenched his fists.

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted through gritted teeth. Everything he did back then was useless. All of the sacrifices he made, and all of the people he sacrificed, were to destroy the virus and keep it from ruining lives. But then THIS happened.

Naruto wasn't a fool. Based on the size of the quarantined zones he could tell that this wasn't a case of someone being admitted into the hospital and the staff there discovering a new case. The outbreak was massive in New York, and for it to suddenly appear and spread so quickly meant that it was done on purpose. Someone had preserved a sample of the virus, and had now unleashed it on New York. Already, he could hear the reporter on the television dubbing the city with a new name, New York Zero.

Naruto's family looked at him with concern clear in their eyes. They all knew the full story of the events of the last outbreak, and knew what hearing this latest news would do to him. Jim left the couch and walked over to Naruto. Looking at him for a moment, at how he was stiffly holding himself, Jim suddenly swept Naruto into a large hug.

"It's OK son. It's not your fault. You did all that you could, and you saved a lot of lives. It's not your fault." Jim kept repeating similar lines like these over and over while wrapping Naruto in a warm embrace. After a few moments of this, Mary and May came over and turned it into a group hug. Tears started running down Naruto's face, but the rest of his body began to calm down.

After a few moments of this, he indicated to his family that he wanted to move and they let him go. He took another look at the TV, and then walked outside. Mary made to go after him, but Jim held her back.

"Leave him for now. He'll be all right, but he needs a few moments to himself now to sort out his mind." Mary looked worriedly at Jim for a few moments, but decided to trust him in this. Out of al of the family, Jim seemed to be the one who knew Naruto the best. While they could tell that Naruto loved each of them deeply, Jim just seemed to be able to read Naruto like a book and always knew how to best deal with him.

Outside, Naruto climbed onto the roof of the house and lay back so that he could gaze at the stars. This is the one activity that he had enjoyed doing since he was a child, looking at the stars and imagining that each was a possibility. A chance for things to be different, where he could find happiness. He let his imagination run wild while gazing at the beauty of the twinkling lights in the sky.

Now however, he wasn't finding the peace that he once had. His mind was whirling through the information that he just learned, and couldn't seem to settle on anything. He thought hard about the news, and considered carefully his next step.

One option that he had was to do nothing. He could ignore what was going on and focus on living a peaceful life with his family. He had more than earned it, and he knew that they would not judge him for choosing this. In fact, they might even prefer this over him risking his life.

On the other hand, he knew that he was one of the people who were best suited to stopping whatever was going on in NYZ. Not only could he not get infected… again… but he had advantages over everyone else, both naturally thanks to the virus, and by training as a shinobi. He could do things that for others exist only in the realms of their imaginations.

If he went, he could find out what happened, and make sure that it did not happen again. If the outbreak occurred due to some idiot with an agenda, then he would end him and any followers that he had to prevent another repeat. If this is some sick test run by Blackwatch or some other agency, he would destroy it and bring their activities to light to discourage any imitators. He could potentially end it for good.

But that would also require him leaving the family that he always wanted. The family that he finally managed to obtain. There was no way in hell that he was going to bring them with him, if he had to he would knock them out and steal the car to keep them from going. He was not going to risk them being infected or getting killed; he would watch the world burn before that happened. So he would have to leave them behind.

Naruto's mind went over the choices over and over, thinking carefully about what his options were. In the end however, it came down to a question of _'Would I be able to look at myself in the mirror if I didn't at least try?'_ After being on the roof for a few hours, he dropped down and went inside to let everyone know what he had decided.

He had a journey to prepare for.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter four is complete. That's right; Naruto is going back to New York for the events of Prototype 2. I bet from the chapter name you all thought that Naruto was going to return to the Elemental Nations, right? Sorry to disappoint, but that's only going to happen after the end of this arc. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**

**As a heads up, I'm also starting a few new stories, so updates for this story will most likely not be speedy. I'll update the most quickly the stories that catch my interest the most (currently it's this one), but I will still be working on all of my stories. To reassure everyone, I will never abandon any story, although I may take a break from one if there is no inspiration currently for it. Check my profile to see what the upcoming stories are and feel free to send me a message as to what you think about them.**


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